Agtech - So What?

There's a persistent myth in the startup space, and in agtech especially, that the most important way that corporates can support startups is through direct investments. In our experience, this is an insanely incomplete picture. Agribusiness and agricultural production are complex and enigmatic worlds, and newcomers to the space need guidance and support from advisors, customers, and support infrastructure, just as much as they need capital, if not more. 

Today we’re joined by Kevin McDonald, VP of Customer and Government Relations at Guardian Ag, to hear more about Guardian’s ongoing partnership with Wilbur-Ellis; how it came about, how it’s going, and what other startups and corporates can learn from the experience. 

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should read the information memorandum and seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe Information is correct, no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness is given, except for liability under statue which cannot be excluded.

Topics: corporates, venture-startups, ag-tech-adoption, business-model

2023 has been a year of both investing and fundraising for us here at Tenacious Ventures. And sitting on both sides of the table has highlighted to us just how much of the investing world is stuck in a black box. In general, we’ve found that this opacity can be a huge barrier, especially in an industry like agri-food– where venture funding hasn’t been a long-standing part of the ecosystem.  

So we’ve decided to shine a little more light in the investment box by asking two of our favorite LPs– or limited partners, who invest in venture capital funds– to join us for a conversation about how their job works. 

Today we’re joined by Eliza Jackson from Macdoch Ventures and Sara Balawajder from Builders Initiative to discuss how their vision for building investment portfolios is evolving and how it’s been informed by their experiences beyond the agtech sector. 

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should read the information memorandum and seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe Information is correct, no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

Topics: finance-investing, venture-startups, agtech-ecosystem, business-model

We've spent a lot of time this year talking about the future of specific sub-spaces of the food system– fertilizer, vertical farming, alternative protein, and ag retail, just to name a few. We’ve focused a lot on the existing internal trends and pressures that help us predict what might be coming next, but we’ve talked less about the factors outside of the expected, not least the way that people - from lawmakers, to organizations, to consumer groups- might be able to play a more active, and less reactive, role in shaping that future.

Today we’ve asked Ian Proudfoot, Global Head of Agribusiness at KPMG, to help us explore that question, specifically as it relates to the conclusions included in KPMG’s most recent 2023 Agribusiness Agenda. 

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should read the information memorandum and seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe Information is correct, no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness is given, except for liability under statue which cannot be excluded.

Companies: KPMG • Topics: agtech-ecosystem, government-policy, food-systems, finance-investing

As 2030 looms and the climate commitments made in the last decade come into clear (and often disappointing) focus, one important lesson we’ve learned is that not all greenhouse gasses are created equal. Despite the many metrics created in the hopes of simplifying our way to climate action, CO2 is neither the most potent greenhouse gas nor, arguably, the most important priority in the short term. That position is held by methane, and a need for short term methane reductions puts the livestock and dairy sectors in the center of the action. 

Today we’ve asked Katie Anderson, Senior Director of Business, Food and Agriculture at the Environmental Defense Fund, to shine a light on the kinds of current efforts that are fueling these reductions. Her organization’s recently announced partnership with Danone centers on a first-of-its-kind example of a commitment that puts methane– and not generic “climate” or “carbon” work– squarely on the goal line. 

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should read the information memorandum and seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe Information is correct, no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness.

Topics: climate-risk, livestock-dairy, government-policy

Without a doubt, the global fertilizer sector sits at the center of a complex web of international industries. From energy to mining and food to agriculture, turning deep earth minerals from the far reaches of the globe into the food we eat every day is no small task, and even tiny changes can have outsized, and often unpredictable, impacts. That’s why, as we continue our thinking around what the future of fertilizer, and therefore the future of the global food system will look like, we are coming to the challenge with a systems approach. 

And today, we’ve invited a guest with a unique global perspective to offer some insight at the system level. We’re joined by Alzbeta Klein, CEO and Director General of The International Fertilizer Association (IFA), who offers her vision of a path towards a more resilient and responsible fertilizer sector, and what that journey could mean for everyone else. 

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should read the information memorandum and seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe Information is correct, no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness is given, except for liability under statue which cannot be excluded.

Companies: International Fertilizer Association • Topics: fertilizer, ag-inputs, food-systems, government-policy

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT have been making waves across the global economy, but it’s not always clear how these language creating tools can make a difference in industries like agriculture. While companies everywhere are scrambling to develop their own proprietary AI tools before they even know what they’ll use them for, many in ag are left wondering– should I be using ChatGPT too? 

Today we’ve asked Marc Arnusch, President of Arnusch Farms, to share his experiences using ChatGPT in farming, negotiation, and more. He’s had the opportunity to use the tool for tasks big and small, and has witnessed some exciting outcomes, and some that leave him worried. 

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should read the information memorandum and seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe Information is correct, no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness is given, except for liability under statue which cannot be excluded.

Topics: ai, ag-data, ag-tech-adoption, people-culture

Innovation in the protein space has most recently seen a lot of hype around “alternative” proteins, from high tech microbe engineering to proprietary science that makes plants into something magically similar to juicy burgers or satisfying nuggets. But innovation in protein is a much deeper field. And when it comes to actually getting products to customers, protein innovations are just as likely to happen on the production floor as the lab bench. 

Today, we’re talking about how protein companies are thinking about innovation. We talk to Ashli Blumenfeld and Ben Rosenthal, Co-Presidents at Standard Meat Company, a family owned meat company founded in the 1930’s. Ashli and Ben chat about how they’re future-proofing their business, from how they make decisions about products and partnerships, to how they invest in innovations that might come to define the protein space. 

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should read the information memorandum and seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe Information is correct, no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness is given, except for liability under statue which cannot be excluded.

Companies: Standard Meat • Topics: meat-protein, food-systems, business-model, corporates

A few months ago, Matthew got the chance to represent Tenacious on a panel at the Evoke Ag Conference in Adelaide, Australia. The conversation was called “Going Global, Who's investing in Agribusiness,” and featured a group of investors who tackled some of the most pivotal questions facing the agtech investment space today; from tackling sustainability and ESG and managing through a generative AI revolution to getting to the next billion dollar exit. 

For more information and resources, visit our website.

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should read the information memorandum and seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe Information is correct, no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness is given, except for liability under statue which cannot be excluded.

Companies: evokeAG • Topics: finance-investing, agtech-ecosystem, deep-tech, venture-startups

In recent years, the vertical farming startup space has been characterized by ecstatic highs and disappointing lows. More than a billion dollars worth of funding has flowed into a relatively small number of investments, but despite this resourcing and years of runway, we’ve started to see frequent, high profile collapses. So, is there a value proposition with vertical farming? Or was it all hype, and time is running out? 

Today, we’re joined by Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin, Founder at Phyllome (a Tenacious Ventures portfolio company), to help us tackle these tricky questions.  

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should read the information memorandum and seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe Information is correct, no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness is given, except for liability under statue which cannot be excluded.

Companies: Phyllome • Topics: vertical-farming, venture-startups, food-systems, business-model

On the surface, the opportunity to transition on-farm energy to electricity seems limited at best. Farm jobs and farm equipment are big, and often require a level of power that electric options have historically been unable to meet. But between advances in electric vehicles and shifting dynamics in farm operations, those limitations are starting to dissolve. So we’ve started to wonder: is on-farm electrification at a tipping point? 

Today we’ve asked David Meyers, CEO and Founder at GridTractor, to help us explore that question. His perch at the head of an agricultural fleet electrification and charging services company gives him a unique perspective on what comes next for energy use on the farm level, and what that could mean not only for the industry, but for electrification across the economy as well. 

For more information and resources, visit our website. 

The information in this post is not investment advice or a recommendation to invest. It is general information only and does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making an investment decision you should read the information memorandum and seek financial advice from a professional financial adviser. Whilst we believe Information is correct, no warranty of accuracy, reliability or completeness is given, except for liability under statue which cannot be excluded.

Companies: GridTractor • Topics: energy-electrification, farm-machinery, climate-risk, ag-tech-adoption